Record of Agarest War

 Xbox 360
Record of Agarest War Image
Metascore
71

Mixed or average reviews - based on 7 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
6.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 28 Ratings

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  • Summary: War darkened the skies of Agarest. Not a simple war between mortals, easily ended by divine intervention, but a war that split the gods themselves. Armies such as the world had never seen before, and would never see again, clashed in the skies of Agarest, across its surface, and even in theWar darkened the skies of Agarest. Not a simple war between mortals, easily ended by divine intervention, but a war that split the gods themselves. Armies such as the world had never seen before, and would never see again, clashed in the skies of Agarest, across its surface, and even in the caverns that wound their way through its interior. As is the way in war, many died on both sides, gods and mortals alike, and the war left Agarest broken, blackened, and dead. The gods wept for their paradise, and in a final act of creation, sacrificed themselves to bring life back to its charred and twisted surface. Although the gods are long dead, the withering darkness that began and fueled their war is not. Imprisoned for millennia, its bonds have begun to weaken, and as they do, a shadow once again spreads across the surface of the world. Born into this world perched unknowingly on the brink of the apocalypse, a young man by the name of Leonhardt and his descendants are the last, best hope for Agarest. Their journey will span generations and continents as they strive to once again bring peace to their beleaguered world, even as the cost of their own souls. [Aksys Games]… Expand
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 7
  3. Negative: 0 out of 7
  1. ZTGD
    80
    Overall, Record of Agarest War is a nice quality title for the next generation consoles. The graphics and sound might not be very impressive but the gameplay and the heart of the game just might creep up on you and make you a fan, I know it did me.
  2. Gaming Age
    75
    I think Record of Agarest War is definitely a pretty niche SRPG, that's not going to appeal to players that aren't already familiar with this particular game type. However, I don't think it's meant to bring in new players, and as far as fan service games go, this is pretty tame and playable by teens on up.
  3. IGN
    75
    It's being marketed as an erotic SRPG, but in reality it's actually very tame. A little cleavage is all you're going to see here. I would rather it have gone more over-the-top with its sexuality, as that would have made it a more unique experience.
  4. GameSpot
    70
    This sexed-up strategy role-playing game boasts some interesting ideas, but falls short of realizing its full potential.
  5. RPG Fan
    70
    Aksys gets a gold star for effort, but Idea Factory gets a thumbs down for artificially lengthening a game with an already-boring combat system and for letting the "interact with the ladies" aspect of the game fall to the wayside.
  6. Cheat Code Central
    66
    A game of insane length. Soul breeding gives infinite room for replay value, but just getting through the first time can actually take up the entire life span of a normal human.
  7. Official Xbox Magazine
    65
    A very bare-bones expression of the genre. [July 2010, p.80]
    All this publication's reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 6
  3. Negative: 1 out of 6
  1. Kamellianf
    Jan 5, 2011
    9
    "Anyone interested in a excellent strategy RPG"

    The first thing i got to say is. Do not be fooled! The sexual appeal and in your face    "Anyone interested in a excellent strategy RPG"

    The first thing i got to say is. Do not be fooled! The sexual appeal and in your face collector's edition is merely marketing tools for simple-minded Americans, such as me. The game actually has very little to do with sex, dating, vulgarity, nudity, etc....the only reason there is even a male, female relationship talked about in the "hype" and reviews (which I've now read, after purchasing and playing the game) is simply to establish a game play technique, that is employed to allow the story and characters to live for FIVE generations in the game. So you are forming friendships, with the female characters you meet to "mate" and give birth to the next generation hero, You and your partner determines the qualities of your child, based on your alignment and stats! The story is standard by the nature of being an old-school RPG, that is to say, by now, almost every game feels like someone had the idea already, at least when it comes to RPG stories. This story however, sets itself apart, by spanning the five generations, so no one character gets boring or stale. In fact, there is a feature to resurrect fallen ancestors from previous generations through the help of an alchemy merchant later into the game. If you've played other RPG games, then there should really be nothing new to you here, in terms of traversing the world map, "menu-based" towns (no walking around, just menus of the shops to visit), and doing the pre-fight party prepping.

    Combos and teamwork! At the movement phase, all characters move singularly, but all in the same "turn" After you decide where you want them (there is a range to consider of course) and which direction to face, you and the enemy units all move together to their new spaces. It's like giving orders to any army, then on your command, they go. Fighting is done on a turn by turn basis though, with an on-screen display of the attack order, enemies included.

    Here's the fun part! All the characters have different points on the grid around them, that if a teammate is standing on one of those spaces (which are highlighted and color coordinated) they can perform skills chains or combos, granted they both or all have enough AP to do something. Most grid spaces for a teammate to stand for a front-line fighter, have their "team spaces" behind or next to them. Where the support players in back usually have their "team spaces" in front or next to them, makes sense If you do not want to use a character in your current combo, even though they are in the combo chain list, and waste the AP they might need to attack or heal a different target. Everyone has a range to their skills, but this might be the most interesting part of the combat, and something I do not believe many reviewers grasped, is that if one character cannot reach an enemy, you can "stand-by" on their turn, and use a character that they are "linked" to (by standing on the above mention spaces on the grid), then they can reach the enemy, or even a friend for healing purposes, and allow the member that is too far away, to jump into the fight, or to heal someone they were originally too far from when it was their turn. Be cautious when jumping all over the battlefield though!

    This is where Idea Factory shines! The underlying strategy is tremendous! If you jump around to help a friend in a tougher fight, but have a combo planned for your next character, jumping to help a friend might break the "chain" or combo for the next person. NOT all members are connected in these chains, There is enough strategy in just the chain and AP system to not even care about the other things. There is also depth in elemental strengths and weaknesses, what side you are attacking, or being attacked from as well. Just turning your character to attack during his turn will change the location of his "team spaces" too, which would possible break a planned chain! Do not be intimidated at all, They introduce things simply enough.

    There is so much more that i do not want to get into here, Alchemy, Blacksmith, Monster guild, First-aid shop, Fortune teller (to get a glimpse of what your child might be like) and so much more involving the weapons, armor, and items! Just too much to get in to! These reasons are why these games or this one specifically are "next-gen"...they are so deep and long! I end with this! I love Idea Factory and this game as well! Do not be thrown off by childish appearance, or gimmicky sexuality on the packing or hype. If you like a deep RPG, then this is definitely for you. The story is actual very deep, adult oriented (meaning; it's not power rangers lol) and spans generations. I love knowing the decisions I made affect how the girls I meet look at me, and in the end, one of those girls (chosen by which likes you the most) gives birth to the next hero! Totally awesome!!!    … Expand
  2. BusyBusyPanda
    May 23, 2012
    8
    A fantastic strategy RPG which is not an easy genre to find games to play these days. The graphics are cute adorable and delightfully retro.A fantastic strategy RPG which is not an easy genre to find games to play these days. The graphics are cute adorable and delightfully retro. The battle system is very good easy to use and the inclusion of combo attacks as well as ultimate character specific attacks is great. (I did think the battles would have been easier to fight if the screen rotation hadn't been blocked by scenery so often) The excessive DLC is good and bad. I consider it a wash. The good is you can get an advantage, the bad is you can take advantage and end up one hit killing everything. Where is the fun in that? There is an Auto Battle feature which I used when entering dungeons and caves to find the treasure chest's off along the hidden paths but not much more than that. Auto Battle is nice to have but also is a wash since it's a feature that can be so easily abused. I loved how each character could be customized and changed to either be magic heavy, strength heavy or balanced. The fact that the skills were all interchangeable for each character based on the available attributes of the weapons and armor was very enjoyable to me. I love customizing things and I thoroughly enjoy menu management and this game had a menu that was very easy to navigate. The story was a bit lame but let's face it has anyone here every played a fantastically written J-RPG? Half the time translation's can be the biggest downfall of any imported game. I just wish this game didn't have such a bizarrely sexual inference to it because the game is so good the box for the special edition just makes it seem like porn. I cannot say this enough this game is not porn. It is very age appropriate for teenagers for some reason it just seems they tried to sell the game with sex on the box and in a few double entandre's.… Expand
  4. VermillionHaze
    Jan 19, 2011
    8
    While this game is drowning in cheesy dialogue and dating sim elements. Its also is a solid tactical rpg with a very addicting battle system.While this game is drowning in cheesy dialogue and dating sim elements. Its also is a solid tactical rpg with a very addicting battle system. Easily the best game in this genre on the 360. PS3 might have Disgaea but hopefully 360 owners can look forward to more Agarest titles. The story is light hearted and it's characters need more development but that's really the only complaint I had. This game does so many things well it's hard to knock it.… Expand
  5. Scourge626
    Jun 30, 2012
    6
    Record of Agarest War is not a game of merit, but it does okay. It tries to revive the the JRPG game by trying something new, but it winds upRecord of Agarest War is not a game of merit, but it does okay. It tries to revive the the JRPG game by trying something new, but it winds up falling down and landing on its over sexualized breasts. The game attracts fans of the JRPG genre and tries to gather others with a harem of scantly clad women and a small cast of dreamy guys for the lady fans. Personally, I believe that its attention to its own strong points (elements of anime such as beautiful girls, cute boys, overall silliness, etc.) prevented the developers from paying attention to what really mattered: the story, visuals, and game play. The story isn't much to speak about. It's decent but it does not do much to stand out from an overused story: Ancient evil is sealed, chosen one meant to stop evil, chosen one gets friends to go on journey to help destroy evil. The only thing that was good, but also about it was that this battle spanned over 5 generations. In each one, you had a choice of three women to romance and they would produce a child whose appearance and fighting style depended on their mother,but their initial strength is depended only on how much one of the ladies love you. That was an interesting concept, but the child's personality or dialogue does not change depending on the mom. Speaking of the characters, most of them are one dimensional and do not act differently over the span of 5 generations or whenever they enter the game and 100+ hrs. They tend to be a character type rather than being a character and sometimes interact interestingly enough, but there are just too many characters to appreciate at any given time. Sometimes you won't see them for awhile and will forget about them while training and progressing through the story. Couple that with multiple endings and that there is nothing to do outside of the main quest (other than finding events) and the game loses a lot of replay value even with its hidden events, artwork, etc.. The artwork is interesting enough but they could have had more and tried to be different about it. The characters that you used and fought against stood out more than enough but what about everyone else? They could be differentiated but they were never in the game long enough to be cared for. The towns, cities, and rooms hardly stood out from one another neither did the environments on any of the continents. Even the people you bought stuff from the stores were all the same. I have no problem with the way the characters look when they are fighting, but they could stand to be full sized and moving like real people. Also, the background sceneries during the dialogue parts could be done better as well. They all look the same from one place to the next. That's fairly lazy. The games' saving grace is its battle system. It may be the dreaded turn based that make many people cringe in irritation, but the grid battle system makes it more challenging especially when I have to make sure I have the right characters who have the right abilities. This can be alleviated by having the right weapons but let me tell you how that works: You have to be strong enough or have the right combinations of attacks to get an overkill on enemies in order to get special items needed to build most of your weapons, armors, accessories, etc. You still need money, to pay for it that is not easy to get. In order to enhance those you need Enhancement Points (EP) and those aren't easy to get either. But you might as well do it because it takes hours of level grinding just to gain a few levels and that's how you get EP and money. Also to get other nice weapons without building them you have to do battles and get high combos to get Technical Points (TP). You also need TP and money to get attacks, magic, and other items. It takes a lot of work to get anything done, but the payoff is immense when you can beat the enemies with ease. Record of Agarest Wars is not the best game and tries hard to revive the same love people had for JRPGs, but it comes up short in that it has to use gimmicks to get people to even pay attention to it instead of its own inherit merits as an RPG.… Expand
  6. tom3118
    Jul 13, 2012
    6
    What if Final Fantasy 6 came out in 2010. Would you say it was great? I think it's safe to say that this game is less good than that. ThisWhat if Final Fantasy 6 came out in 2010. Would you say it was great? I think it's safe to say that this game is less good than that. This is a classic turn-based RPG with a mechanic fairly similar to Final Fantasy Tactics. The story is good, and the gameplay is challenging, and would have been really good in the early-to-mid 1990s. But good god people, it looks and plays like an SNES game. The graphics are **** as is the dialog style, and the combat is slow as death. If you're thinking about getting this game, go back and play a classic instead. BTW: re American marketing, my game came with a "sexy" pillow case and a mouse pad with a bossom wrist wrest. lol! Who do they think they're kidding?… Expand
  7. Trayl
    Mar 25, 2013
    3
    You can only make your graphics so and dull before it's makes the game worthless, that is that problem I had with this game. I was soYou can only make your graphics so and dull before it's makes the game worthless, that is that problem I had with this game. I was so disgusted the visual style of this game that I could play it for no more than an hour and I don't plan to try again anytime soon.Some times you can get away with a visual style that's if it fit's the feel of a game, but sadly this is not one of them. It's just so bad. On top of the horrible visual styling the game over emphasized breasts. A hard task to accomplish in my opinion. The game play was slow and lack luster. I wouldn't touch this game with a 10 foot Pole if I were you.… Expand